In motor vehicles such as a passenger car and the like, a vehicle room is formed of a closed space and therefore may be filled with the smell of tobacco or other odors. In view of this, various kinds of filter-type air purifiers have become available. However, the air purifiers are incapable of removing the odor components adhering to a wall surface or other parts of the vehicle room.
In recent years, attention is paid to an electrostatic atomizer that generates electrically-charged water particles of nanometer size (nano-size mist) by atomizing water. The nano-size mist generated in the electrostatic atomizer contains radicals such as superoxide radicals or hydroxyl radicals and provides an effect of deodorization, an effect of controlling viruses or funguses and an effect of inactivating allergenic substances. Therefore, if the nano-size mist is blown into a vehicle room, it is possible to remove the odor components present in an air within the vehicle room or adhering to wall surfaces of the vehicle room or vehicle seats. It is also possible to control allergens such as the bodies of ticks adhering to seats, floor carpets or cushions and the pollen brought into the vehicle room while opening a door or window of the vehicle or carried into the vehicle room with the clothes of a passenger. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-151046 (JP2006-151046A) discloses an electrostatic atomizer for use in a motor vehicle in which nano-size mist is blown by the wind of an air conditioner to be sprayed into a vehicle room.
In case where the nano-size mist is blown by the air-conditioning wind and sprayed into the vehicle room from a front ejection port of the air conditioner as in the conventional example disclosed in JP2006-151046A, a discharge electrode is cooled to have the moisture present in an air condensed. The condensate water thus obtained is electrostatically atomized to generate electrically-charged water particles of nanometer size (nano-size mist). However, this atomizing method is fully governed by the change in temperature and humidity of the air-conditioning wind, which makes it impossible to generate the nano-size mist in a stable manner. In addition, since the nano-size mist is blown by the air-conditioning wind and sprayed from the front ejection port of the air conditioner, it is sometimes the case that the nano-size mist impinges against front seats and fails to smoothly reach the rear space of the vehicle room.
In the conventional example disclosed in JP2006-151046A, although the nano-size mist is sprayed from the front ejection port of the air conditioner to be adhered to the front body surface of a vehicle occupant, it is impossible to have the nano-size mist adhere to the hair of the vehicle occupant in an efficient manner.